Air-engine



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. A. WOODBURY, J. MERRILL, G. PATTEN 81;

E. P. WOODBURY.

AIR ENGINE.

No. 331,359. Patented Dec. 1,1885.

Waitresses: liweniors: Q Jqmws JLTVoodbury, M 0 Joshua Merrill,

George l'afien, M .Edwez-dEWadbuz-y,

by M .flfiorney.

N PETERS, Phcm-Lllhegnphcr, Washinglon. n c

(No Model.) V 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. A. WOODBURY, J. MERRILL, G. PATTEN &

E. P. WQODBURY.

AIR' ENGINE.

No. 331,359. Dec. 1, 1885.

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Witnesses: Iwen'lors:

- Jazmes J1. modbury, m Joshua Merrill/L, Georg e Ill/R811),

Edxvafdzl. modbury,

y M0 morney.

(No Model.) 4SheetsS'heet 3. J. A. WOODBURY', J. MERRILL, G. PATTEN &

E. F. WOODBURY.

AIR ENGINE.

No. 331.359. Patented Dec. 1, 1885.

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IIIIiIiIIIIIIJTIEI'IIiI minesses: liuaenlors:

' Janwsfl.modfbury,

Joshua Merrill/b,

M/ George lafiew,

Edward/E modbwry,

y MOM MAQ/iwrnsy.

N. PETERS. Phumumn m mr. Washinglum D. c,

(No Model.) 4Sheets-Sheet 4. J. A. WOODBURY, J. MERRILL, G. PATTEN &

E. P. WOODB'URY. AIR EINGINE.

Patented Dec. 1;1

J'azwesfi. mo dbur y, Joshua, JIferrill, George l wlten, .Edwardl!modburg,

Phnlo unn har. wmm um u c lUNiTnn STaTns PATENT @rrrcn.

JAMES A. WOODBURY, OF WVINOHESTER, AND JOSHUA MERRILL, GEORGE PATTEN,AND EDWVARD F. \VOODBURY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

AIR-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 331,359, dated December1, 1885.

Application filed April 13, 1885. Serial No. 162,038. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Jilirns A.WoonBURY, of Winchester, in the county ofMiddlesex, and JOSHUA MERRILL, GEORGE PATTEN, and

EDWARD F. Woonnnnv, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, and all of theState of Massachusetts, have invented jointly certain new and usefulImprovements in Air-Engines, of which the following, taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

Our invention relates to air-engines, and especially to the meansemployed to start said engines from a state of rest; and it consists incertain novel arrangements and combinations of parts,which will be bestunderstood by reference to the description of the drawings, and

'to the claims hereinafter given.

Figure 1 is the plan of an engine embodying our invention. Fig. 2is aside elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the same,the cutting plane being on line 00 w on Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a frontelevation of the pipes and valves connecting the reservoir or reservoirswith the cylinders; and Fig. 5 is an elevation of the same pipes andvalves as viewed at right angles to Fig. 4, and showing the reservoir intransverse section.

In the drawings, A is the bed of the engine,

o 13 B the furnaces, G O the heatingchanibcrs beneath theworking-cylinders D and D, respectively, and H and H are theregeneratorcylinders, all constructed and arranged and connected bypipes 13, B, h, h, P, and P, in

precisely the same manner as described in another application of ours ofeven date herewith.

F and Kare the walking-beams connected, respectively, to thereverser-pistons and the 40 workingpistons by suitable piston-rods andlinks or connecting-rods, and by'the connect ing-rods F and K to thecranks of the shaft M, carrying the fly-wheel M andO is a cylindricalreservoir for containing air under pressnre, and connected by suitablepipes and check-valves with an air-pump and with the cylinder,substantially as described in said other application.

Heretofore, so far as our knowledge extends,

5o air-engines have been set in motion, after a suitable fire had beenbuilt beneath the piston or heater, by the operator turning the flywheeland its shaft about its aXis or operating a sidelever for moving thedisplacenpiston by hand. This may answer very well for small 5 engines,but for large engines would be impractical, because of the power thatwould be required to revolve the flywheel in large engines. To obviatethis difliculty is the object of our present invention, and to this endwe avail ourselves of the pressure of air contained in the reservoir-Oor a second reservoir, O to start the engine, by connecting saidreservoir with the chambers above and below the several pistons, andproviding a valve or valves for controlling and directing the flow ofsaid compressed air into said cylinders, as will now be described. Areservoir, 0, an air-pump, O, pipes connecting said pump and reservoirand said reservoir with the interiors of the several cylinders, anddevices for regulating the pressure within said reservoir, as well as aby-pass pipe, at piston-valve in said pipe,and a governor connected withand adapted to operate said valve to regulate the speed of the engine,are all constructed and arranged in the same manner as shown anddescribed in another application of even date herewith.

In Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings the reser- 8o voir O is connected withthe cylinders of the engine for the purpose of supplying com pressed airthereto for running the engine after it is once set in operation bymeans of the pipes at and m and the four-way or pipes 8 5 P and P, whichform portions of the pipes P and P, which connect the displacer andworkingcylinders, as shown in Figs. 1 and 8.

Q is the bypass pipe, connected at each end to the lower side of thefour branch pipes l and I, and provided with the stoprvalve 0 and theregulating-valve R, all arranged as shown and adapted to operatesubstantially as described in our other application before cited.

The pipe in is provided with the'stop-valve m ,'and the pipes mm areeach provided with a check-valve, W, all arranged and adapted to operateas described in said other application.

In order to render the compressed air in the reservoir 0 available forstarting the engine, ICO we connect the pipe m through the pipes in andm and the valves m and m with the bypass pipe Q at each end thereof, andthrough the vertical portions thereof with the four-way branches 1? andP, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

The valves m and m are constructed and arranged so as to be easilyoperated by means of the hand-levers m and m. (Shown in Figs. 4 and 5.)

The operation of starting the engine is as follows: A suitable firehaving been built in each of the furnaces B and B, and allowed to burntill the air in the lower ends of the cylinders has become sufficientlyheated, and the valve m being closed, the operator grasps thehand-levers m and m, one in each hand, and opens and. closes the valvesm and m alternately, so as to admit compressed air to the cylinders fromthe reservoir 0 first upon one side of the pistons and then upon theother, the alternate movements of said valves being timed by themovements of the pistons, as indicated by the positions of the walkingbeam.- When the fly-wheel has made a halfrevolution or more, the valvesm and m are closed and the valve m is opened, when the engine willcontinue in operation so long as the fire is kept up, unless stopped byopening the valve It or by opening both of the valves m and m at thesame instant, which will stop the engine by equalizing the pressurewithin the cylinders.

In the case of very large engines it is thought best to employ aseparate reservoir, 0 for starting the engine, the pressure in whichwill not be affected by the draft of air for running the engine. Vhenthis is done, the reservoir 0 is connected by the pipe n with the pipe mand a stop-valve, n, is inserted in said pipe 12? and an additionalstop-valve, n is inserted in the pipe m, all as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

When it is desired to pump up the pressure in the reservoirs O and O",the valve m is closed and the valves n andn are opened, and the air-pumpis set in motion to force air into the reservoirs O and 0 until thedesired pressure is obtained, when the valve a is closed and the valvemis opened, thus placing the reservoir O in communication'with theinteriors of the cylinders, so that air will flow into said cylinderswhenever the pressure in said cylinders falls below that in thereservoir 0; but the pressure in the reservoir 0 is not affectedthereby, but is reserved for use in starting the engine the next timethat it is to be started up after being stopped.

When the engine is stopped at night, the pressure in the cylinders isblown out through the blown-off cocks or valves to, as described in ourother cited application. \Vhen it is desired to start the engine again,the valve n is closed and the valve 02 is opened, and then the valves mand m are manipulated by the hand-levers m and m, as before described.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is

1. The method of starting airengines in which the same body of air isused over and over without exhausting, which consists in alternatelyadmitting air contained in a reservoir under pressure to opposite sidesof the workingpiston, as set forth.

2. In combination with the displacer and workingcylinders of anair-engine and their pistons, a reservoir constructed and arranged tocontain air under pressure, pipes leading therefromto and communicatingwith said cylinders upon opposite sides of said pistons, and a pair ofvalves in said pipes constructed and arranged to be operated byhand-levers to admit air under pressure first to one side of saidpistons and then to the other, substantially as described.

3. In combination with the displacer and working-cylinders of anair-engine and their pistons, two reservoirs constructed and arranged tocontain air under prtssure, pipes connecting said reservoirs, valves-insaid @011- necting-pipes for opening or closing communication betweenthem, pipes connecting each of said reservoirs with the interiors ofsaid cylinders, and a pair of valves provided with hand-levers andarranged to be operated to control the admission of the air from one ofsaid reservoirs alternately to opposite sides of said pistons,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing Witnesses, on this 27th day of March, A.D. 1885.

JAMES A. WVOODBURY. JOSHUA MERRILL. GEORGE PATTEN. EDXVARD F. WVOODBURY.

Witnesses:

WALTER E. LOMBARD, FRANK E. BRAY.

